FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for separation of whole wheat germ in a roller flour milling system. Particularly present invention provides a process for separation of wholesome undamaged Wheat Germ(WG) during milling of wheat in a Roller Flour Mill. More particulary the fat / oil content of the separated WG is 8-20% .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Owing to the presence of rare, highly nutritive components and palatability, WG has attracted attention of Food Scientists / Technologists towards its proper separation so that it can be used for human consumption. Unfortunately, otherwise it is discarded along with wheat bran which is meant for cattle feed. Many works has been carried out earlier to separate and extract WG from wheat kernel during milling process. So far, separation of intact WG, without causing much alteration in the existing milling system, without installing expensive machines / equipment, without interfering / affecting main milling products has not been reported.

Reference may be made to Posner et al. 1985, Bulletin, Association Of Operative Millers. Wherein the process describes use of very expensive equipment called “germ separator” in a roller flour mill. The main drawback of the method is high initial investment in the use of expensive sophisticated equipment and increased operational cost. In this method WG was extracted in Break system alone which interfered with the normal milling operation as process required extended break passages.

Reference may be made to “The National Joint Industrial Council for The Flour milling industry”, 1966. Wherein the WG was obtained by another milling process, however, the greatest drawback of this method is separated wheat germ contains bran and endosperm as impurities. Wheat Bran is the major contaminant of the WG in this process.

Reference may be made to Scott 1951(US Patent 3001727 1961) Wherein, a method for the separation of bran from the WG is described by impinging the mill germ on a slightly moistened smooth surface, the bran particles fall off the surface, but the germ, which adheres more firmly, can be brushed off and collected separately. The drawback of the above method of separation is the formation of flattened (flaky) germ and the process is carried out over moist roll surface, followed by scraping the same in order to recover it after separation, this complicates subsequent processing condition.

Reference may be made to Stevens 1959 Cereal Chemistry 36:452. Wherein, another method, which is commonly practiced now, middling containing germ particles produced in Break system are purified in purifier machine, followed by pressing through a pair of smooth roll where WG is flattened and sieved, and again 2nd time pressed through another smooth reduction roll, such that WG becomes thin, broad, flaky and damaged which is recovered by subsequent sieving over a coarse sieve. The drawback of this method is that germ oil gets expressed out when pressed between the rolls and often transferred to flour which adversely affects keeping quality of flour and other mill feeds. By this method native structure of WG is damaged and mixed with flour.

Reference may be made to (Bull J E, 1937 Cereal Chemistry, 14 :244, Pomeranz et al 1970 b Cereal Chemistry 47: 429) Wherein it is reported that the very presence of the WG in flour was reported to affect the baking quality and colour of the flour, when WG is flattened (flaked) between pair of reduction rolls. The drawbacks of the above mentioned method is that the flour obtained is of bad quality, as some of the WG gets ruptured in the break rolls goes into the flour portion. This imparts brown colour to the flour. The keeping quality of the flour will also be affected, as during flaking in between the reduction rolls the oil of the germ gets extruded into the flour. (The National Joint Industrial Council for The Flour milling industry, 1966).

Reference may be made to (Kuhl, 1941, MehlBrot, 41:297) Wherein it is stated that, presence of highly unsaturated Germ Oil in the flour due to pressing of wheat germ in the reduction passages. The drawback of the method decreases its storage life of wheat flour because of oxidative rancidity.

Reference may be made to (Kent et al 1944, Cereal Research Station St. Albans) Wherein it has been reported that release of the only Scutellum in the Break System was earlier in soft wheat than in hard wheat. Release of the Scutellum and the embryo portions depend on the moisture content of the wheat, higher the moisture content, the higher will be the amount of scutellum that can be removed and it is more friable at low moisture content. The draw backs of the above mentioned method are (i) The method does not have practical application to the industry due to difficult to adopt recommended steps and (ii) the separation was also not effective and efficient enough.(Kent et al. 1949, Milling 46:113).

Reference may be made to Posner in the year 1989 Wherein, in order to overcome some of the disadvantages of the procedures followed that time, Posner tried to extract Embryo and Scutellum separately. To accomplish this objective, conditioning time of wheat was altered and splitted into two stages, a friction machine was installed between two stages of conditioning. In the milling section, Break system was extended more elaborately by introducing eight Break passages. The process also included three gravity tables and three aspirators that followed each gravity table, in the routine normal flow sheet. Roll gaps of break system were also kept liberally higher than conventional setting. Scutellum is separated from third break therefore allowing chances of cutting the WG into smaller pieces. Embryo is collected from another grooved roll of Sizing passage placed in the reduction system receiving fraction from First Break. (US Patent-4,986997,1991). The drawbacks of the above mentioned methods are, (i) It completely alters the normal course of roller flour milling process and cleaning section flow sheet (ii) Conditioning time is altered and splitted into two steps (iii) Lengthier wheat cleaning and longer conditioning is not feasible and acceptable by the industry (iv) Inclusion of impact machine in the cleaning flow sheet, making the process complicated also increases power consumption.

Reference may be made to Y. Pomeranz, 1988, Wheat Chemistry and Technology Wherein Separation of WG begins in the purification system, where the WG stock form the first two break along with the branny particles of endosperm of similar size arises from the break sifters. Because of its size the germ stock passes through or over the third and fourth sheets of semolina purifiers which is designated as scratch or sizing’s stocks. These stocks are ground lightly on corrugated rolls to ensure that: (1) endosperm particles are not excessively reduced, as excessive reduction at this stage prevents their subsequent purification and optimum reduction (2) bran particles are not reduced in size, thereby causing an increase in the ash content of the flour. (3) Wheat germ is maintained as intact as possible to permit its subsequent separation. Then sizing stock is sifted on 36 wire that consists of wheat germ particles highly contaminated with relatively fine branny stock and very small amount of endosperm. Now the stock is subjected to gravity table known as germ separator, to separate germ. This purified germ particles are subjected to flaking and sifting by passing through smooth reduction rolls, characterising good quality wheat germ which was sieved again on coarse sieves between 16-28 wires to remove finer particles. The drawback which is mentioned in the above text is self-explanatory, stating germ gets fragmented in the grooved rolls, endosperm and bran particles are reduced therefore, it adversely affects ash content of the flour produced.

OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a “Process for separation of whole wheat germ in a roller flour milling system”.
Another object of the present invention is to recover whole WG in a R F Mill in pure form with minimum contamination of wheat bran and endosperm (less than 1-5 %).
Yet another object of the present invention is to recover the wheat germ in a form where embryo and Scutellum are present in its native fused form retaining all its nutritive value.
Still another object of the present invention is not to separate wheat germ in flaky form by pressing it between the pair of smooth rolls twice.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent oozing out of germ oil during present invented process, that negatively affects the quality of flour and other milled products.
Yet another object of the present invention is not to bring in major change in the existing roller flour milling process to recover whole wheat germ, but to add one or two well-known, easily available flour-milling machine in the process as ancillary step to accomplish the objective.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 depicts block flow chart of the invented process in which red coloured highlighted portion indicates modifications made in the already operational existing flow chart.
Figure 2: representing existing flow chart of the mill.
Figure 3: depicts modifications made in the existing flowsheet in the red colour.
Figure 4: depicts wheat germ separated by conventional method of double pressing, in an attempt to optimize wheat moisture vs conditioning time.
Figure 5: depicts separation of wheat germ using single minimal pressing in the smooth reduction roll,
Figure 6: depicts wheat germ fraction obtained after roller adjustment followed by particle separation by purifier done as in Example 3. Note the turgid minimally damaged wheat germs getting separated along with semolina.
Figure 7: depicts wheat germ obtained after roller mill adjustment followed by passing through impact mill. Note the size/quantity reduction of semolina without causing much damage to wheat germ, although flattening still persists
Figure 8: depicts wheat germ obtained after roller mill adjustment followed by passing through impact mill. Note the size/quantity reduction of semolina without causing much damage to wheat germ, although flattening still persists
Figure 9 : depicts wheat germ obtained after adjusting release of first break.
Figure 10: depicts wheat germ separation showing adjustment in processing parameters to obtain less damaged wheat germ with least amount of contaminants by passing though impact mill before reduction roll. As detailed in example 7
Figure 11: depicts separation of whole, undamaged and unpressed wheat germ recovered by fine adjustment of break release, purifier adjustments and using gravity table and aspirator that has minimised contaminants. Example-8.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly the present invention provides a process for separation of whole wheat germ using roller flour milling process comprising the steps;
i). providing wheat having 6-15 % moisture ,
ii). cleaning and conditioning of wheat of step (i) with 8-20% moisture and resting period of 14-48 hrs to obtain mellowing of wheat endosperm and toughening of bran facilitating even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure,
iii). passing wheat obtained in step (ii) between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-40 % ( particles that can pass through 1110 micron sieve) followed by size grading, segregating the particle size in plansifter between 1400 microns to 500 microns,
iv). subjecting the product mix obtained in step (iii) to Purifier machine for purifying the milled fraction, utilizing air for particle size classification which separates similar size bran pieces, to obtain product mix of wheat germ and endosperm of similar size,
v). subjecting the product mix of wheat germ obtained in step (iv) to an impact mill to obtain resilient, pliable and elastic wheat germ ,
vi). passing the product mix obtained in step (v) through pair of reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina followed by size gradation in plansifter, the fraction obtained between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 40 GG (475 microns microns), is big bold whole un-pressed wheat germ biomass and the fraction between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) of plansifter contains second quality (smaller) wheat germ biomass and
vii). passing both the two wheat germ biomass fractions as obtained in step (vi) through air classifying machine and passing both the fractions through air aspirator wherein the feed gate to Air aspirator is adjusted maintaining constant flow rate between 1-4 positions (petkus make) (2-10 kg/s per hour) where wheat germ gets separated as heavier fraction and lighter fraction contains mostly bran, some fractured endosperm of smaller sizes and little fractured germ,
viii). subjecting the wheat germ thus obtained in step (vii) to gravity table for complete separation of pure, clean intact wholesome and turgid Wheat Germ.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the size of big wheat germ biomass obtained is between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 30 GG (670 microns) and that of smaller wheat germ biomass is between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns).

In another embodiment of the present invention, the wheat germ obtained from the said process is in the range of 40- 59.5 hecto-litre per kg

In still another embodiment of the present invention, the wheat germ thus separated has oil content in the range of 12-18.39 %.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly the present invention provides process for separation of whole wheat germ in a roller flour milling system. The process comprises separation of undamaged and intact whole wheat germ in its native form in a Commercial Roller Flour Mill, where wheat is cleaned and conditioned with 8-20 % moisture with resting period of 20-40 hrs in order to get even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure while due to dissimilar swelling of WGB (germ) and endosperm, WG gets loosened from its base when passed between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-30 %(of material that can pass through 1110 micron sieve), the stock obtained is sieved in plansifter and size classified fraction between 1400 microns and 500 microns are subjected to purification process to separate bran pieces of similar size using air resistance when wheat germ and some endosperm of similar size gets concentrated which are taken out of the purifier as last throughs, are subjected to an impact mill that disrupts the fragile endosperm keeping intact the wheat germ as it becomes resilient, pliable (due to absorption of water since wheat germ contains high amount of simple sugar and oil in it), the stock now is further passed through a pair of meticulously adjusted reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina that remains undisrupted after the impact mill, which is then sieved between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 40 GG (475 microns) to obtain big bold whole intact un-pressed germ, again the fraction between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) obtained after reduction roll still contains second quality germ that can be separated by meticulous adjustment of an aspirator as whole intact wheat germ is denser than bran and endosperm, subjecting such obtained wheat germ is advisable to pass through a gravity table and an aspirator for further purification if found necessary due to variation in wheat quality and the processing steps.

Details of Biological resource used : Commercial FCI (PPW 343) wheat with Madhya Pradesh W 366 wheat was used for the present process. The wheat was procured from
33/2, hootagalli Industrial Area, KRS Road, Hootagalli, Mysore, Karnataka 570018.
The present invention provides a process for separation of whole wheat germ a roller flour milling process using wheat having 6-15 % moisture. accordingly the steps involve,
i). cleaning and conditioning of wheat of step (i) with 8-20% moisture and resting period of 14-48 hrs to obtain mellowing of wheat endosperm and toughening of bran facilitating even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure,
ii). passing wheat obtained in step (ii) between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-40 % ( particles that can pass through 1110 micron sieve) followed by size grading, segregating the particle size in plansifter between 1400 microns to 500 microns,
iii). subjecting the product mix obtained in step (iii) to Purifier machine for purifying the milled fraction, utilizing air for particle size classification which separates similar size bran pieces, to obtain product mix of wheat germ and endosperm of similar size,
iv). subjecting the product mix of wheat germ obtained in step (iv) to an impact mill to obtain resilient, pliable and elastic wheat germ ,
v). passing the product mix obtained in step (v) through pair of reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina followed by size gradation in plansifter, the fraction obtained between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 40 GG (475 microns -525 microns), is big bold whole un-pressed wheat germ biomass(WGB) and the fraction between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) of plansifter contains second quality (smaller) wheat germ biomass and
vi). passing both the two wheat germ biomass fractions as obtained in step (vi) through air classifying machine and passing both the fractions through air aspirator wherein the feed gate to Air aspirator is adjusted maintaining constant flow rate between 1-4 positions (petkus make) (2-10 kg/s per hour) where wheat germ gets separated as heavier fraction and lighter fraction contains mostly bran, some fractured endosperm of smaller sizes and little fractured germ,
vii). subjecting the wheat germ thus obtained in step (vii) to gravity table for complete separation of pure, clean intact wholesome and turgid Wheat Germ.
The size of big wheat germ biomass obtained from the said process is between 10 GG(2000 microns) and 30 GG (670 microns) and that of smaller wheat germ biomass is between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) and the wheat germ obtained from the said process is in the range of 40- 59.5 hecto-litre per kg
The wheat germ thus separated has oil content in the range of 12-18.39 %.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying Flow Sheet shown in the Figure 1 and Figure 3 for separation of Wholesome minimally pressed WG according to the embodiment of this invention.

Wheat is cleaned and conditioned with 8-20% moisture with resting period (conditioning time) of 20-48 hrs in order to get even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure, due to dissimilar enlargement of germ and endosperm, WG gets loosened from its seat / base, such wheat when passed between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-40 % ( % of material that can pass throughs of 1110 micron sieve), the stock after First Break is subsequently size graded in plansifter, the fraction 1400 microns to 500 microns are subjected to purifier(purification process), by air and particle size classification Purifier separates bran pieces of similar size, and concentrate WG with little endosperm of similar size that comes out of the purifier as last throughs, this last throughs then passed through an impact mill that disrupts the fragile endosperm keeping intact the resilient, pliable, elastic WG absorbing very high amount of water as it contains high amount of simple sugar, fibre and oil, the stock now is further passed through a pair of meticulously adjusted reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina that remains undisrupted after the impact mill, which then sieved between 10 GG (2000microns) and 30 GG (670microns) to obtain big, bold, whole, intact, un pressed WG, again the 2nd Overtail fraction between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355microns) obtained after reduction roll still contains second quality WG that can be separated by meticulous adjustment of an aspirator as whole intact smaller WG is denser than bran and endosperm, hence passed through a gravity table followed by an aspirator for further purification if found necessary due to variation in wheat quality and the processing adjustments.
Accordingly, the present invention is development of a novel separation process of wholesome undamaged WG moiety. Various possible steps, and application of various permutation and combination within which the invention will work are given below:
Wheat is cleaned and conditioned with 10-20% moisture with resting period of 20-48 hrs in order to get even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure
During conditioning process of wheat (combination of standardized moisture and resting time), due to dissimilar swelling (enlargement) of germ and endosperm, germ gets loosened from its seat.
Such conditioned (prepared) wheat is then passed between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-40 % ( % of material that can pass throughs of 1110 micron sieve)
The product mix obtained after passing through grooved roll (First Break) is size graded in plansifter and the fraction between 1400 microns and 500 microns is subjected to Purifier machine for purifying the milled fraction.
Purifier utilizing air and particle size classification, separates bran pieces of similar size, and concentrates WG with little endosperm of similar size that comes out of the purifier as last throughs of the machine.
The above concentrated fraction of WG is subjected to an impact mill that disrupts the fragile endosperm keeping intact the WG which becomes resilient, pliable and elastic due absorption of water. (since WG contains high amount of simple sugar, fibre and simple protein)
Product mix obtained after Impact mill is then passed through meticulously adjusted pair of reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina that remains undisrupted even after the impact mill
Stocks after reduction roll is again subjected to plansifter for size gradation and the fraction obtained between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 30 40 GG (475 microns) is big bold whole un-pressed WGB
The fraction between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) of plansifter contains second quality (smaller) WGB that can be recovered by passing the fraction though meticulously adjusted aspirator.
Both the above collected wheat germ, if needed, is passed through an air classifying machine.
Aspirator feed gate is adjusted maintaining constant flow rate between 1-4 positions (petkus make) (2-10 kg/s per hour) where WG gets separated as heavier fraction, Whereas lighter fraction contains mostly bran, some fractured endosperm of smaller sizes and little fractured germ.
Thus obtained WG may be subjected to gravity table (due to variation of wheat quality or other variable factors) for complete separation of pure, clean intact wholesome and turgid WG.
Table 1 : Hectolitre weight (bulk density) and oil content of wheat germ samples separated by different methodologies.
Sl. No. Sample details Hectolitre weight(Kgs) Total lipids (%)
1 Wheat Germ International commercial 28 12.16
2 Wheat Germ Indian commercial 34 7.27
3 Wheat Germ obtained by
Singly pressing as detailed in
Example-4 41.5
11.76
4 Wheat Germ obtained by
minimally pressing as detailed in Example -7 48 15.45
5 Undamaged and un-pressed Wheat Germ obtained by finally invented process as detailed in Example 8 59.5 16.39
The present invention relates to separation of clean, morphologically intact and turgid, wheat germ biomass (WGB) unlike the commercially available samples where the germ is pressed into damaged flaky form which is also contaminated with endosperm and bran (Snapshot1, page no 26). This new invention involves mechanical separation of undamaged intact WGB having less than 5% of contaminants (such as wheat bran, endosperm and wheat particles) and has higher total lipids and density(table no 1 of this specification), hence appears superior and more useful for its application in food, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and other products. Thus separated WGB retains most of the vital nutrients, for which the wheat germ (WG) are highly valued for, unlike in currently practiced wheat germ separation methods where valuable nutrients are lost during separation process. The invented WGB separation method also prevents germ oil getting expressed out and transferred to flour which adversely affects keeping quality of flour and other milled products. By this method native structure of germ is not damaged (a comparative illustration is given in the Snapshot no 3 page no 27)
Wheat production in the world (716 MMT) and in India (92-93 MMT) has sharply increased over the years, indicating its ever increasing acceptability and popularity as staple food. Harvested wheat grain is mostly milled in roller flour mills worldwide to produce refined flour (Maida) and semolina, which are major raw material for baked and traditional products. Wheat kernel has three main constituents viz Endosperm (83-84 %), Bran (13-14 %) and Germ (2-3%). In spite of tiny size of the wheat germ (WG), it is a nutritional capsule having richest source of natural tocopherol (Vit. E), other vitamins, minerals, healthy oil (?3, ?6 FA), other antioxidants like Glutathione, ferulic acid, functional fibre, and best source of good quality protein (28-33%) comparable to cow’s milk and egg.
In the presently practiced Roller Flour Milling process, WGB gets separated from wheat kernel and comes out from the process along with wheat bran, a low cost by-product and sold as cattle feed. Germ being the most nutritious part of the wheat kernel, therefore, a process for the separation of intact whole wheat germ (scutellum and embryo in fused form) has been invented. The invented process does not affect or interfere with normal commercial roller Flour Milling Process, also does not use any special equipment for germ recovery. The process involves optimisation of wheat conditioning, Break passage groove profile, Break releases, rearrangement of Plansifter sieves for best recovery of WG. Precise adjustments of purifier machine for concentration of wheat germ fraction, by way of passing through an impact mill, followed by controlled semolina reduction passage roll gap adjustment and finally sieving over specific (appropriate) sieve were administered to recover desired wholesome WGB.
Thus extracted undamaged, un-flaked, intact WG may be further processed appropriately to be used as starting material for many health beneficial, therapeutic/ nutraceutical/ functional and convenient food products. Wheat germ is a source of high quality protein, richest source of phyto-tocopherol (Vit.E), anti-oxidants, other vitamins, poly phenols, minerals, functional fibre and healthy oil(?-3, ?-6 fatty acid),(P.Haridas Rao et al, Advances In Food Research Volume 23, 1977).
Therefore, the present invention relates to huge value addition to a low cost industrial by-product (WGB is low cost by-product/waste, sold as animal feed mixed with wheat bran). The present invention opens up newer vistas for the utilization of Wheat Germ (WGB) to prepare a wide range of human food products to combat malnutrition, improve general health of the population, prevent lifestyle diseases and few life threatening diseases like Cancer, Coronary diseases at an affordable cost. The present innovative milling technique of WGB separation does not require a major alteration / deviations in the existing milling process. Hence it is an attempt to convert a waste to Gold.
WG constitutes about 2.5-3.5% of wheat kernel situated at the lower dorsal part of the grain having deep yellow/ amber colour owing to high level of dissolved tocopherol (Vit E) in 16% oil. WG also contains 33-35% good quality protein (containing all EAA), Vitamin B, Antioxidants like Glutathione, Ferulic Acid, Pentose Sugar, functional fibre and minerals. During the roller flour milling process, wheat is dampened with 08-18% of moisture and given resting period (conditioning time) for 20-48 hrs for added water to be evenly distributed to all major constituents i.e. Endosperm, Bran and WG. WG contains good amount of Protein, non-starchy fiber and simple Sugar, hence absorbs higher amount of water compared to endosperm which is starchy, therefore WG swells more and gets loosened from its seat at endosperm base during conditioning of wheat. Conditioned wheat, having swollen WG, when pressed between pair of differentially rotating break rolls, during roller flour milling, swollen WG gets detached from the kernel due to roll pressure and roll differential. The wheat, after passing through Break rolls, is size classified in plansifter into 6-7 fractions. Released WG gets classified along with Coarse Semolina portion, hence, along with coarse semolina it is purified in purifier machine which further classifies the stock based on size, density and air resistance. In purifier machine WG gets concentrated in the last throughs also found sufficiently concentrated in 2nd or 3rdovertail. In newly designed flowsheet, the last throughs and 2nd or 3rdovertail is passed through an impact mill where most of the mellowed endosperm semolina gets reduced in size whereas resilient, pliable, elastic WG owing to high protein, simple sugar, non-starchy fibre, and oil content remains undamaged. The stock is then passed through a smooth roll (1R) with controlled gap adjustment, so that it does not damage the WG. The intact WG is then sieved out in pure form using appropriate sieve.

NOVELTY OF THE PROCESS:
The novelty of invention lies in the use of wheat having 6-20 % moisture and processing the same through a combination of grooved roll, reduction roll and impact mill under controlled conditions of moisture resulting in recovery of wheat germ biomass obtained is between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 40 GG (475 microns) and a smaller wheat germ biomass is between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns).
The recovered intact WG has hectolitre weight (Bulk Density) of 40- 59.5 hectolitre compared to 28-34 kg of commercially available wheat germ. (Table no 1.)
Fat / oil content of the separated WG by the invented process ranges 12-16.39 %.compared to 2-10% of commercially available WG, Which confirms presence of more healthy oil and other nutrients are retained within the WG extracted by the invented process (table no 1).

EXAMPLES
The following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention:

EXAMPLE 1
Commercial FCI (PPW 343) wheat with Madhya Pradesh W 366 wheat was cleaned as per the routine sequence and adjustments of cleaning machines, conditioned with lower moisture of 14 % with conditioning time (kept constant) of 36 hrs, First break release was adjusted to 10 %. It was observed there was not enough release of WG in the first break passage, consequently in the purifier also, it could not be concentrated resulting in poor recovery of WG, less than 0.05 %. The WG thus recovered was contaminated with endosperm (more than 35-40%).
The moisture of same wheat blend was gradually increased to 17-18 % that increased the WG recovery gradually (0.5 to 0.8%) but flour production (extraction) got reduced beyond 16 % of Wheat moisture.
In this trial separation of WG was conventional double pressing method on smooth roll of IR and 2 R executed. Photo of WG is as shown in the figure 4.
PICTURE NO.4
Wheat germ separated by conventional method of double pressing, in an attempt to optimize wheat moisture vs conditioning time.

EXAMPLE 2
Separation of WG was attempted by passing through single smooth roll passage whereas remaining variables were kept similar to example 1. Wheat moisture was maintained at 16 % at first break passage. Destination and sieves of 1R were changed as mentioned in the changed flow sheet as shown in the figure 5 Recovery of wheat germ reduced drastically. The separated germ was not so flaky but cannot also be called undamaged as shown in the picture no.2

EXAMPLE 3
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables similar to example 2, such as wheat variety, conditioning time and wheat moisture, sieve covers etc., but purifier settings were slightly changed followed by semolina reduction passage adjustment, taking care not to press more to damage the germ. This eventually decreased the germ recovery to less than 0.1%. The release of First break was also kept less than 10%. The endosperm contamination had increased significantly under this experimental trial, as shown in the Figure 6.

EXAMPLE 4
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables similar such as wheat variety, conditioning time and moisture content of wheat, release of first break and all the sieve covers, purifier air settings analogous to example 3 but passed the germ concentrated stock from purifier through smooth semolina reduction roll alone, we got either flaked wheat germ (picture no. 4) or with more than 30 % of impurities when roll gap increased to 0.5 mm. Thus obtained germ was having Hectolitre weight 32 kg. (as shown in the Figure 7.

EXAMPLE 5
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables identical / analogous to example 4 such as wheat variety, conditioning time and moisture content of wheat, release of first break and all the plansifter sieve covers, purifier air settings but passed the germ concentrated stock from purifier through smooth semolina reduction roll followed by the impact mill, we got half flaked wheat germ having less than 30 % of impurities figure 8 and the germ having Hectolitre weight of 42 kg.

EXAMPLE 6
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables similar to example 5 such as wheat variety, conditioning time and wheat moisture, release of first break and all the sieve covers, purifier settings but germ concentrated material was subjected to impact mill before passing through semolina reduction rolls, we got whole wheat germ (un flaked) with less than 20% of impurities in the recovered germ (as shown in the Figure 9)

EXAMPLE 7
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables similar to example 5 such as wheat variety, conditioning time and wheat moisture, release of first break and all the sieve covers, purifier sieves were further adjusted and air setting was controlled to reduce contamination of endosperm in the separated fraction before passing through semolina reduction rolls, we got whole wheat germ (un flaked) with less than 10% of impurities and 48 kg Hectolitre weight of the recovered germ. (As shown in the Figure 10) and oil content 12%

EXAMPLE 8
In the present example, keeping all the milling variables analogous to example 7 such as wheat variety, conditioning time, wheat moisture, release of first break and all the sieve covers in the plansifter, purifier settings and we got good separation of undamaged, unpressed wheat germ, in order to reduce the contaminants further the wheat germ was passed through aspirator and a gravity table. The quality of wheat germ was much superior than earlier, and Hectolitre weight of the germ also increased to 59 kg (as shown in the Figure .8, figure 11, figure 12) and oil 16.39%
The optimisations of wheat, conditioning, roll grooving details, roll differentials, break roll releases, plansifter sieve mesh opening size, rpm of impact machine, air and sieve adjustment of purifier with scientific and technological intervention led to successful separation of Undamaged, morphologically intact WG. Extraction of wholesome undamaged WG is subjected to the developed flowsheet and its appropriate adaptation to any roller flour mill with necessary changes depending on exiting milling condition of the mill. The invented process is the comparableto the hand dissected and mill separated WG as shown in picture no 8 b and c.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
The advantages of the separation of Whole WG in the invented process are:
1. Morphologically intact separated wheat germ has higher density when compared to WG separated by any other known process so far.

2. Thus separated WG contains 60-80 % more expensive oil than commercially available WG or WG extracted by any other known method so far. Therefore separated WGB by invented process retains most of its vital nutrients, for which the WG is highly valued.

3. Oxidative rancidity of the WG separated by the invented process is slower due to its undamaged whole some structure whereas pressed / flaked / damaged commercially available wheat germ shelf life is far lesser and becomes rancid faster.

4. Shelf life of the other prime products of roller flour mill, viz Maida, Sooji, Atta increases because rapid rancidity causing WG gets removed during earlier processing stage of roller flour milling process.

5. WG separated by the invented process remains undamaged hence WG oil is not oozed out therefore, due to the absence of WG Oil (unsaturated oil) in flour, atta and semolina, attains higher shelf life and becomes more suitable for the production of longer shelf life products (biscuits, vermicelli, pasta etc).
6. Major portion of WG is normally discarded along with wheat bran and sold as cattle feed, Due to presence of WG, Wheat Bran also turns rancid, forms lumps and gets heated up, develops mouldy smell very rapidly. The situation aggravates during rainy season or it is routine phenomenon in the coastal areas.. This problem also gets automatically resolved when wheat germ is separated out in the initial stages of milling.

7. The invented process is simple, process adaptation of which does not requires addition of any expensive or sophisticated machine in the normal milling system.

We claim
1. A process for separation of whole wheat germ using roller flour milling process comprising the steps; (NUMBERS OF CLAIM 1 SUB SECTION STARTS FROM VIII ?
i). wheat having 6-15 % moisture ,
ii). cleaning and conditioning of wheat of step (i) with 8-20% moisture and resting period of 14-48 hrs to obtain mellowing of wheat endosperm and toughening of bran facilitating even distribution of moisture throughout the kernel structure,
iii). passing wheat obtained in step (ii) between a pair of grooved roll (First Break) to obtain a release of 10-40 % ( particles that can pass through 1110 micron sieve) followed by size grading, segregating the particle size in plansifter between 1400 microns to 500 microns,
iv). subjecting the product mix obtained in step (iii) to Purifier machine for purifying the milled fraction, utilizing air for particle size classification which separates similar size bran pieces, to obtain product mix of wheat germ and endosperm of similar size,
v). subjecting the product mix of wheat germ obtained in step (iv) to an impact mill to obtain resilient, pliable and elastic wheat germ ,
vi). passing the product mix obtained in step (v) through pair of reduction roll to reduce the size of semolina followed by size gradation in plansifter, the fraction obtained between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 40 GG ( 475 microns), is big bold whole un-pressed wheat germ biomass and the fraction between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns) of plansifter contains second quality (smaller) wheat germ biomass and
vii). passing both the two types of wheat germ biomass fractions as obtained in step (vi) through air classifying machine and passing both the fractions through air aspirator wherein the feed gate to Air aspirator is adjusted maintaining constant flow rate between 1-4 positions (petkus make) (2-10 kg/s per hour) where wheat germ gets separated as heavier fraction and lighter fraction contains mostly bran, some fractured endosperm of smaller sizes and little fractured germ,
viii). subjecting the wheat germ thus obtained in step (vii) to gravity table for complete separation of pure, clean intact wholesome and turgid Wheat Germ.

2. The process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the size of big wheat germ biomass obtained is between 10 GG (2000 microns) and 30 GG (670 microns) and that of smaller wheat germ biomass is between 10 GG (2000microns) and 50 GG (355 microns).

3. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wheat germ obtained from the said process is in the range of 40- 59.5 hecto-litre per kg.

4. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wheat germ thus separated has oil content in the range of 12-18.39 %.